Persuasion
by 0Atwood0
Summary: Ryan's seeds of doubt, of selfloathing had been planted long before Trey had arrived in Newport, long before Marissa had ever met him. But when he starts to believe that he is unequivocally like his brother, Ryan spirals out of control.


A/N: The beginning part of this chapter that is in italics is the opening five minutes of the episode _The Secrets and Lies. _All dialogue is lifted directly, but the narration and tone were adjusted a bit. For this fic, the general storyline is followed up until this point of the episode, whereafter things change a bit. Enjoy!

-------

"_He's leaning forward, indicating all focus is on her." Summer dictated to Seth, intently observing the interaction between Ryan and Sadie, the Bait Shop music echoing loudly in her ears. " See how her palms are facing up? That means she's open to what he's communicating. _Star Magazine_: What Stars' Body Language is Really Saying."_

_Seth glanced at her skeptically. "I've talked to the guy, and what _Ryan_ is really saying is that he and Sadie are just taking it slow."_

"_Oh no. Bodies don't lie." She declared defiantly. "I'm sending out a 'hot new couple' alert." Noticing that Ryan and Sadie had begun to move towards them, she whispered. "Act like you know nothing."_

"_I don't." Seth quirked an eyebrow._

"_Hey so uh, I think we're going to head out." Ryan offered up nonchalantly, Sadie's hand firmly in his grasp._

"_Alright, we'll go with you." The lanky brunette agreed, waving a hand through the air._

"_No no, it's fine. Just stay here." _

"_I'll get him home safe." Sadie murmured wryly, as Ryan wrapped his arms around her body and they swaggered off toward the exit._

"_Alright so they're into each other." Seth conceded with a shrug._

"_You know what? I'm actually happy for them." Summer stated, linking arms with her boyfriend._

"_And you don't feel weird about Marissa? Because even I feel a little weird about Marissa for you."_

"_Nope. I'd feel weird about Marissa if I _saw_ Marissa."_

"_I thought she was sleeping at the house, now that your parents are hooking up on the high seas?" He inquired._

"_No, she's been sleeping at the trailer. This breakup has hit her hard. She said she needs time to process her feelings and heal in solitude." The two leaned on the balcony, overlooking the bar area._

"_Or, party with two hundred sweaty teens." Seth's eyes locked on Marissa making her way through the throngs of people on the floor of the Bait Shop. And she was definitely not alone._

"_What?" Summer looked on as Marissa made her way over to Volchok, two beers in hand. "Oh my God." Volchok's greedy hands wrapped around Marissa's body, pulling her close to him as he forcefully pressed his lips against hers._

"_So if the body doesn't lie…" Seth trailed off._

"_Then it's saying EW."_

"_Ew? Or touch my pooper?"_

Summer stared at him disgustedly, "Never," She started slowly, "_ever_, say that again."

"What? It's true." He argued, ducking a blow to his head.

"You're gross, do you know that? I don't know why I ever—"

Seth's eyes widened in a sort of panic, cutting Summer off with his frenzied whispers. "Red alert, red alert."

Summer yelped in pain as he pinched her arm, swatting at him again. "What was _that _for Cohen?"

"Look away." He desperately pleaded with her, watching as her brow furrowed in confusion.

"Hey." Ryan greeted, clapping a hand down on Seth's shoulder and positioning himself in between the two brunettes. "Sadie just forgot her jacket."

"Too late." Summer heard Seth choke out, receiving a strange look from his brother. Her stomach dropped when she heard the five words out of Ryan's mouth that Seth was trying to prevent.

"What are we staring at?" His eyes perused the crowd that his two friends had been fixated on so intently, expecting to see something of consequence going on below. What he got was a whole lot more than he bargained for.

"Uh, Ryan." Seth winced, holding a finger up to indicate that he had something of importance to say. "You're crushing my shoulder." And he was almost afraid that the words had fallen on deaf ears as he watched the blonde set his jaw and stare down at his ex girlfriend who seemed to have a new penchant for very public displays of affection.

"Ready to go?" Sadie asked with a rather oblivious smile, appearing from one of the back rooms of the club; jacket in one hand, the other trailing across Ryan's back. More than a little startled when Ryan shoved his way past her, she followed not only him, but a jittery Seth and Summer through the crowd and down a spiral staircase, slinking their way towards the bar.

Ryan's feet felt like lead. His breathing, constricted to the point that he was unsure of whether it was sheer rage that was bubbling up inside of his chest, or if he was seething jealousy. He looked her up and down, his stomach turning at the beer bottle that she twirled between her fingers, her body pressed unsettlingly close against a torso that was not his own.

"Hey! Lil' bitch, long time no see. How's your girlfriend doing?" Volchok sent a smug wink in Sadie's direction and pulled Marissa closer in to his side.

Rolling her eyes exasperatedly, all Marissa had to do was take one look at Ryan's not so subtle stare to realize what kind of catastrophic mess this situation was going to turn into. Placing a hand on Volchok's chest, she spoke up before an exchange of words, or even more likely, fists, could occur. "Why don't you go start up the van, I'll be out in a minute."

Volchok eyed her warily, eventually relenting, but not before pressing his lips roughly against Marissa's once more, letting his hands rove her body, knowing the torture that he must've been inflicting. "Sure thing." He broke away from her, heading towards the exit, bumping shoulders with Ryan on the way. "See you around." He mumbled to the raging blonde, a satisfied smirk on his lips.

"What are you doing with him?" Ryan demanded through gritted teeth, his eyes darkening.

She sighed deprecatingly, "Please, spare me the lecture okay? I'm not in the mood."

"You shouldn't be hanging around with him." He countered, completely unaware of the three other people gathered behind him.

"Hmm, well I don't think it really concerns you Ryan, seeing as…oh that's right, _you_ broke up with _me_." The hurt in her voice was more evident than she had expected, more obvious than she would have liked.

Unrelenting, Ryan pressed on. "What are you doing with him?"

Marissa let out a defeated laugh, glancing behind him at the girl he suddenly seemed to be so taken with. "Apparently the same thing that _you're_ doing." She motioned for him to glance at the brunette standing next to people she used to consider her friends.

Ryan opened his mouth to respond, but the hand on his shoulder and the soft voice coming from beside him prevented the words from ever passing his lips. "It's not worth it Ryan. Let's just go."

She had tried. Marissa had really tried to keep the harsh, biting comments to a minimum, to present as little conflict as possible. But _this_, this she would not stand for. She hadn't missed the underlying connotation to Sadie's words. _She_ wasn't worth it. "_Excuse_ me?" Marissa snapped, glaring in her direction. "Listen, slutty McSkank-ho," She hissed with disdain. "I don't know _who_ you think you're dealing with here, but why don't you go and steal someone else's boyfriend out from underneath _their_ noses okay? Pack up your craptastic, hippie-whore jewelry, get your skanky ass on a Greyhound, and go back to East Bumblefuck, Idaho or wherever it is that you came from. I'm sure there's a cheap pack of cards you could buy at the bus station to play _strip poker_ with on the ride back."

Marissa stood, seething; inhaling and exhaling fiercely through her nose, glaring at the wide-eyed brunette in front of her who had almost resorted to cowering behind Seth and Summer. With a small scoff Marissa shook her head and went to move through the awkward little gathering of her former friends and towards the exit, when she was stopped abruptly by a hand wrapping around her wrist.

Letting out a scornful laugh, Marissa ran a hand through her honey blonde tresses and turned to face the man attaching himself to her arm. Ryan's gaze had softened and twisted into something she couldn't quite place, a sort of desperation almost. But all it served to do was make her angrier. She didn't want to stand here and listen to why he had taken off his clothes with some other girl while they were still together.

"God, Ryan. Are we seriously still doing this? Aren't you tired of it?" She questioned him, trying to pull her wrist free of his grip, but his fingers only tightened around her.

"Marissa." He whispered harshly, that same look still plastered all over his face.

She twisted her wrist in his grasp, trying to free herself. "Ryan, let me go." She demanded fiercely, but still he didn't budge. She glared at him menacingly, spitting venom and distaste as she lashed out at him. "You're just like Trey, you know that? Always wanting what you can't have."

Instantly, Ryan's grip fell from Marissa's arm and he visibly recoiled at her words. Without even casting him a backwards glance she made her way through the crowds of people and out of the club altogether. Ryan's whole body seemed to shut down all at once; he couldn't feel his feet on the floor, his stomach twisted unsettlingly, and his head was throbbing, pounding with her words. _You'rejustlikeTrey.You'rejustlikeTrey.You'rejustlikeyourfuckingbrother._

Ryan shrugged Seth's hand off his shoulder, the feeling of physical contact turning his stomach even further. Pushing past the group of friends he had come out with tonight, Ryan clamored up the spiral staircase in search of an escape. He was suffocating, drowning in the obscurity of the darkness of the clubs and the poignancy of Marissa's declaration.

Is that what she thought? That he was his brother? That what she saw and felt and tolerated was not himself, but Trey. That every touch, every kiss, every embrace was far from love, far from anything comforting; it was something horrific and terrifying and torturous.

His body involuntarily heaved at the thought and he pushed his way through the crowd, grasping, shoving at a door until it had mercifully opened and he spilled out onto the slick asphalt of a dark alleyway. Tripping over himself, he was sprawled out on the ground, barely supporting himself on his scraped forearms as his body wracked and heaved, and his eyes burned and teared in streaks down his ghostly pale face until there was nothing left in his stomach to empty onto the floor in front of him, and all that could be heard was his labored breathing echoing off the damp brick walls of the buildings surrounding him.

-------


End file.
